Let's Go Home
by Homura Made Me Do This
Summary: "Have you gone mad, Akemi Homura? I have never seen you so… happy before." Takes place a few months after Episode 12. Rated T just in case. Epilogue is up.
1. Let's Go Home

**A/N: **I swear this is the only fandom that could make me write a fanfiction after so many years of being a reader. SHAFT should be proud lol.

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I did not meet Kyubey. I did not hide Mami's head. I did not steal any of Madoka's panties.

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**Let's Go Home**

Her violet eyes drifted off lazily to the horizon, watching as a family of three was having fun at the riverbank. A tiny smile made its way up her face. It was good to see that girl's family so happy like this. She turned her attention up at the paper cranes she tied up at the tree she was sitting under. She kept count of them. She counted and counted and never lost track. Two more cranes to a thousand. If that girl was there, she would put up that smile she loved so much, cheerfully saying:

"_That's so you, Homura-chan!"_

Remembering her voice, she could just smile a bit wider. Yes, that alone would be enough to cheer her up. And those encouraging words she heard in her dreams kept her away from giving up. Even though Homura wanted to reach her, it wouldn't be possible. Every time she wanted to say how much she missed Madoka in her dreams, her voice couldn't come out. As stupid as it might sound, she tried to yell once and she woke up, tears flowing down her face.

Homura took out two pieces of origami paper. She noticed that she only had pink and purple. A giggle escaped her lips. As she started to fold the paper, smiling to herself, a white creature popped up next to her.

"Have you gone mad, Akemi Homura? I have never seen you so… happy before," Kyubey asked.

Homura's smile faded. She didn't know whether it was sarcasm or not because Kyubey always sounded like a robot programmed to talk with a little child's voice in the form of a stuffed animal. Her hands kept on folding the purple paper neatly as she replied, "Is there anything you want, Incubator?"

Kyubey swayed his tail from side to side, "I have been wondering, why are you doing all this?"

"What do you mean with 'all this'? Fighting Demons?"

"No, dangling all these paper cranes at this old tree. It seems to almost reach a thousand," Kyubey muttered as he looked up at the tree, "Is there someone you're trying to impress? A boy, perhaps? Shouldn't it be the other way around, then? Shouldn't he be the one to impress you with things you females would call 'cute' or 'romantic'?"

Homura only glared at him. Kyubey knew it was a signal for him to shut up and just watch. She finished the purple crane and started to fold the pink one. Weirdly enough, she didn't notice how she would treat anything pink-colored with care. Maybe it became a habit after so long. So long feeling loved by someone that barely knew her, someone she shed her tears for, someone she bled for, someone… she'd die for.

Kyubey decided to leave after seeing how deep Homura was in her thoughts. He'd be ignored whether she was deep in thoughts or not anyway if they weren't talking about anything related to Demons. Or every time he brought up the Witch system.

After finishing the pink crane, she smiled again. The gentle smile she showed the first time she defeated a Witch. It was the same feeling, she remembered.

When she wanted to get up and hang the last two paper cranes, a ball rolled over to her side. She looked at it before averting her attention to the direction it came from. A little boy ran over to her rather clumsily with a wide smile. A smile similar to Madoka's.

'_It runs in the blood, I see.'_

"Neeee! Ball! Ball!" Tatsuya said, waving his hands in the air.

"Tatsuya! That's not how you should ask a girl to help you!" Madoka's dad, Tomohisa, picked him up and scolded him in a fatherly manner.

"Madoka! Madoka!" Tatsuya said again as he pointed at Homura.

Or rather, at the empty spot next to Homura.

And Homura thought he was pointing to the pink paper crane she put next to her.

"He's calling you Madoka again," Junko muttered with a smile, walking over to Homura, "Are you the one that's been putting up these paper cranes, Akemi-san? They're beautiful," she continued, letting her eyes wander at the hanged paper cranes. Homura had been sitting around the riverbank in her free time, and sometimes in evenings or weekends, Madoka's family would be there too. Junko would have some talk with her about Homura's school or her own work. And sometimes, Tatsuya would join in their talk, pointing at Homura while calling out 'Madoka! Madoka!' The raven haired girl found that amusing, actually, despite hearing him calling out to Madoka like that would make her feel a bit sorry. And lonely.

"Yes and thank you," Homura said politely as she stood up and took the pink paper crane in her hand while the purple one was in her other hand, "I just have to put these two up there and it'll be done."

Homura stared at the pink paper crane for a moment. She smiled at it and looked over to Tatsuya. The boy looked back at her, curious. She motioned at the pink paper crane, "Madoka, right? Do you want to help her fly?"

Tatsuya's face brightened up and he nodded eagerly. His hands reached out to the pink crane. Homura handed it over to him. She then stepped back, tiptoed and tied the purple paper crane at one of the vacant branches. She tied it with a different rope than the others. It was a red rope. She sighed happily and handed another red rope to Tatsuya, which Junko took and tied around the crane so it could be hung at the branch.

Tomohisa lifted the little boy up to the nearest branch, but Tatsuya didn't hang the paper crane there, much to the others' confusion. He smiled widely and pointed to the branch much closer to the one Homura used, "There Papa! There!"

Tomohisa shook his head in amusement and helped Tatsuya reach up to the branch, hanging it right next to the purple one. Tatsuya clapped happily. Homura watched the tree. It was done. She chuckled and bowed to the family, "Thank you for helping me. And Madoka."

Junko smiled and gave thumbs up, "No worries! Well it's getting late. I suppose we have to go home now. Will you be okay going home yourself, Akemi-san? Mitakihara isn't very friendly in nights, you know. We can walk you home."

Homura shook her head, "That won't be necessary. I'll be fine, but thank you for your concern."

"If you say so… take care, okay? See you sometime later!" Junko said while waving as the three of them walked away to the distance.

Tatsuya looked at her happily and waved, "Bye bye Akemi-san! Bye bye Madoka!"

Homura waved back at him as they went away from her sight. Her eyes gazed over at the orange sky. She grinned and blew a kiss up to the sky, "My gift is awesome, right Madoka?"

She shuffled over towards the tree and sang 'Happy Birthday' quietly under it.

Probably the most memorable October 3rd Akemi Homura ever had.

The moment she felt a warm breeze get past her body, as if the wind was hugging her from the back, she turned around swiftly only to find a white feather tied with a red ribbon falling slowly to the ground. A heart was drawn in the middle of the feather. Half of the heart was pink and the other half was purple.

And by that moment, she just realized… Tatsuya called out to 'Akemi-san' and 'Madoka'.

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**A/N: **You like it? Leave a review pls... or I will touch you. Nah, I'll probably upload the epilogue if you're not satisfied with this ending. Just tell meh. Ja ne~!


	2. Epilogue

**A/N****:** ... This went longer than I had expected. Ok why is it an epilogue? Because at the very beginning of the 1st episode, the runes said something like "Prologue In Heaven". So I guessed I might as well call this chapter an Epilogue. *shrugs* Lame, huh. But I just thought Homura deserves to be happy.

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Puella Magi Madoka Magica and never will.

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**[Epilogue]**

She fell. She got thrown around. Her bones cracked in several places and her body was slammed to the ground after she crashed onto one of the abandoned buildings, debris falling on her, some fell on her side. She lied at the cold cobblestone, still, not moving at all.

"Guess… I'm done with…" But it wouldn't be cool, right? It wouldn't be like her name if she'd just lie down and die slowly there.

"_You already have such a wonderful name. You should be cool to match it!"_

Homura chuckled bitterly, "I told you… I don't live up… to my… name…" She said hoarsely as she picked up her bow with all the strength she had, propped her body up by leaning onto one of the debris and aimed at the Demons. She pulled the bowstring and an arrow hit the biggest Demon at its head.

It didn't react at all.

"Haha… damn," the wounded girl said as she tried to relax her body, waiting for the Demons to reach her and kill her. She knew Mami and Kyoko were already killed since they didn't answer her calls for help. She grieved for them, but at least she knew they'd be happier up there.

Months had passed since Madoka's birthday. The day she became even closer with Madoka's family. She just remembered that they invited her for a dinner this weekend. Apparently, she couldn't come.

It was a good choice to refuse after all.

She took off the red ribbon she had been using as a hairband and kissed it. Her vision got blurrier and blurrier.

And finally, those tears fell. After all this time she thought her tears had dried, they were still there. She gripped the ribbon tightly, resting her head back at the building remains behind her and looked up at the dark night sky, "… I want to protect this world, Madoka… At least… at least I want to… I want to be really useful for you… I know I've failed… I know… I know my wish has yet to be granted… I wished to protect you… and I failed…" she muttered weakly, punctuated with sniffles, "… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… you've always asked me to hang on and do my best… without you… but I guess… I really… can't be selfish when it comes down to you…"

Those words. The words she had always wanted to tell Madoka in her dreams. The dreams where they would meet and see each other but Homura couldn't say a thing to her. She could only hear her faint voice, encouraging her to wake up and fight. Madoka would say those words. She promised Homura that she'd come back and never leave her again. Homura believed that.

And that one day, she would be reunited with that familiar smiling face again.

But… now that she had her thoughts back at her old 'wish', she felt wrong. She didn't save Madoka, did she? Madoka left. And no one remembered her but Homura, and Tatsuya who would probably forget about Madoka anyways when he grew up. Wasn't it worse than all the timelines she went through? She failed her. That time, when she promised Madoka… right before she killed the pinkette with her own hands… she never thought everything would turn out for the worst like this.

The Demons got closer and closer to her. One of them reached out to her.

'_You don't have to pick me up, Madoka. I'll go there myself. Don't waste your time on someone that has failed you.'_

As she started to close her eyes, pink streaks of light fell down from the sky like a rain at the Demons. Homura wanted to see. She wanted to witness what was happening, but her eyelids were so heavy.

She felt something warm and soft pressed onto her forehead. A kiss. The raven haired girl's cheeks were cupped with two gloved hands. Her head was resting on something softer… someone's lap. Her back was still lying on the cobblestone, but she felt something else covering the front of her torso. White-feathered wings blanketed her securely. It was so warm she wanted to just go to sleep.

"Homura-chan, sorry I'm late!" Madoka said in her usual cheery voice, "Hey, don't sleep yet!"

Homura snapped her eyes open. She adjusted her vision and brushed a few absurdly long pink locks that fell to her face. Madoka's golden eyes gazed at Homura's violet ones lovingly. Homura couldn't help but to blurt out, "… Oh my God… dess."

"Aww," Madoka said, "I am _your_ Goddess. And you'll always be _my_ Homerun."

"Home… run…" Homura muttered weakly, a faint blush on her cheeks, "As much as I dislike… to be called that… I kind of miss it…"

"Hmmhmm," Madoka hummed, stroking Homura's wounded cheeks, "You only miss the nickname I gave to you?"

"… You talk like you… don't know me, Madoka…"

"I was just teasing you. I'm trying to lighten up the mood! And you know, even though you don't want me to pick you up, it's my duty. And obviously, I can't just leave you. You're soooo important to me."

"Out of duty…?"

"Out of love, please. You talk like you don't know me, Homura-chan! Besides, you've already done a lot. You protected this world. I've been watching you every day. I know how much you miss me. I know how much you feel like you failed to save me, but in truth, you did. That's why I appear in your dreams to give you encouraging words. A token of appreciation. You're amazing, Homura-chan, shouldn't you notice it already? That I've been by your side the most compared to everyone else?"

"How am I… supposed to notice it…?"

"Tatsuya. He's been calling out to me only when you're around. My consciousness watches everyone, but most of it stays with you. Do you know how much I loved it when you blew a kiss up at the sky on my birthday? You're so sweet, you know," Madoka said, her cheeks turning pink, "Also… thank you for taking my family with you to celebrate my birthday. I miss them so much. I was so happy that Tatsuya could still see me… and I still wanted to drink with Mama… ah, well, I'll manage the second one somehow, ehehe."

Homura giggled, "You're welcome… you know? I'm glad I can finally talk with you."

"Yeah, I'm glad too. You can't reach out to me in your dream because it was just a part of your imagination combined with a part of my consciousness, so yeah," the pink-themed Goddess said as she took Homura's left hand and kissed the murky, dark purple Soul Gem, making it vanish, "… I never do that to any other Magical Girl, in case you're jealous."

"Yeah…? I feel special…" Homura said sleepily.

Madoka hummed Happy Birthday's tune while resting the tip of her nose on Homura's. Homura forced her eyes open for a bit longer. Madoka smiled that smile Homura missed the most and said softly, "Happy Birthday, Homura-chan. My gift isn't as awesome as yours, I think, hehe."

"No… Madoka… anything you give me… it's always awesome and this… is the best," Homura said with a gentle smile. Madoka took out the purple and pink paper crane and smiled playfully, "… Those are…!"

"It kind of took so long since I just love how symbolic you made these cranes. So there were only 998 cranes because I took these two, hehe. I put a note under the tree, imitating your writings, a note to anyone to make two paper cranes, as replacements. Didn't know Mami-san and Kyoko-chan would pick the note up and made the replacements! I picked those two up earlier, and they looked delightful when they saw me. They remembered me when I took them up there. Kyoko-chan was really, really happy to see Sayaka-chan again! The look on her face was priceless. And Mami-san was rather more attracted to a girl named Nagisa… or maybe it's the other way around since Nagisa-chan likes cheese and Mami-san is all yellow. Whatever it is, it was really good to see them happy."

"Also… back at the first timeline… right before you became a Magical Girl, you wished to redo your meeting with me, right? You did. You wished to protect me, you did. I swear you did protect me. Then with these paper cranes, you wished to reacquire the place you lost-your home," Madoka said as she placed the purple crane on Homura's hand and held the pink one close to her chest, "Your home… by my side."

The raven haired girl closed her eyes slowly as Madoka kept on humming the Happy Birthday tune, letting it sound like a lullaby. A peaceful smile formed on Homura's lips, leading her to her eternal dream.

Madoka smiled as she looked up at the sky and spread her wings.

She remembered the thoughts she had when she made her wish to become a Magical Girl-a Goddess.

'_There is hope. You may be unable to save me from Kyubey. I may not be alive anymore. I may not be able to stay by your side in person. But I know it will not last forever. We'll meet again._

_And you'll see that you had saved me._

_You'll see that you didn't fail._

_And I'll make sure, the next time we meet, I will see you with that gentle smile._

_I promise, Akemi Homura.'_

…

"Let's go home, Homura-chan."

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**A/N:** Thank you for the kind reviews~! 8D And for making me upload the Epilogue, too. Honestly, I made this chapter just because I wanted an 'actual' happy ending for Homura and Madoka. Oh also, to 'Randz Kitsu', I'll consider it. I need to watch The Rebellion first, though. I want to get the feel for it. I WANT TO SEE HOMUCIFER PLS.

See you in the next story. *bows*


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